'As a sniper, I've killed more than a few Nazis. I have a passion for observing enemy behaviour. You watch a Nazi officer come out of a bunker, acting all high and mighty, ordering his soldiers every which way, and putting on an air of authority. The officer hasn't got the slightest idea that he only has seconds to live.' Vassili Zaitsev's account of the hell that was Stalingrad is moving and harrowing. This was a battle to the death - fighting street by street, brick by brick, living like rats in a desperate struggle to survive. Here, the rules of war were discarded and a psychological war was being waged. In this environment, the sniper was king - an unseen enemy who frayed the nerves of brutalised soldiers. Zaitsev volunteered to fight at Stalingrad in 1942. His superiors recognized quickly his talent, and made him a sniper. He adapted his hunting skills to the ruins of the city, watching his prey with nerves of steel. In his first 10 days, Zaitsev killed 40 Germans. He achieved at least 225 kills and the tactics he developed are still being studied. Zaitsev was used a symbol of Russian resistance against the Nazis. His exploits, including a famous 'duel' with a Nazi sniper, remain the stuff of legend. His account is absorbing to anyone interested in World War II and seeing how one person could survive in the most extreme of conditions.

Stalingrad 1942 - 19-year-old Alfred Miller is a member of the 100th Panzer Division and learns to know and hate the cruel horrors of war during the fierce and costly battles for the "Red October" factory. Thanks to his marksmanship, he becomes a sniper. After the encirclement of the 6th Army, the young Austrian wanders through the ruins of the dying city on the Volga in the coldest winter for years, both hunter and hunted. Hunger, cold, misery, death and fear are his constant companions. The war hits hard and merciless every day. The soldiers are brutalized, the hope of salvation dies. Ultimately, there are only two ways to escape suffering and a grim fate: either get on one of the planes out of the cauldron, or die. - realistic, unsparing novel - Information about the sniper system of the Wehrmacht - Original photos from WW II

"Zaitsev volunteered to fight at Stalingrad in 1942. His superiors recognized quickly his talent, and made him a sniper. He adapted his hunting skills to the ruins of the city, watching his prey with nerves of steel. In his first 10 days, Zaitsev killed 40 Germans. He achieved at least 225 kills and the tactics he developed are still being studied."--Publisher.

A New York Times bestseller that brings to life one of the bloodiest battles of World War II—and the beginning of the end of the Third Reich. On August 5, 1942, giant pillars of dust rose over the Russian steppe, marking the advance of the 6th Army, an elite German combat unit dispatched by Hitler to capture the industrial city of Stalingrad and press on to the oil fields of Azerbaijan. The Germans were supremely confident; in three years, they had not suffered a single defeat.The Luftwaffe had already bombed the city into ruins. German soldiers hoped to complete their mission and be home in time for Christmas. The siege of Stalingrad lasted five months, one week, and three days. Nearly two million men and women died, and the 6th Army was completely destroyed. Considered by many historians to be the turning point of World War II in Europe, the Soviet Army’s victory foreshadowed Hitler’s downfall and the rise of a communist superpower. Bestselling author William Craig spent five years researching this epic clash of military titans, traveling to three continents in order to review documents and interview hundreds of survivors. Enemy at the Gates is the enthralling result: the definitive account of one of the most important battles in world history. It became a New York Times bestseller and was also the inspiration for the 2001 film of the same name, starring Joseph Fiennes and Jude Law.

For six months in 1942, Stalingrad is the center of a titanic struggle between the Russian and German armies—the bloodiest campaign in mankind's long history of warfare. The outcome is pivotal. If Hitler's forces are not stopped, Russia will fall. And with it, the world.... German soldiers call the battle Rattenkrieg, War of the Rats. The combat is horrific, as soldiers die in the smoking cellars and trenches of a ruined city. Through this twisted carnage stalk two men—one Russian, one German—each the top sniper in his respective army. These two marksmen are equally matched in both skill and tenacity. Each man has his own mission: to find his counterpart—and kill him. But an American woman trapped in Russia complicates this extraordinary duel. Joining the Russian sniper's cadre, she soon becomes one of his most talented assassins—and perhaps his greatest weakness. Based on a true story, this is the harrowing tale of two adversaries enmeshed in their own private war—and whose fortunes will help decide the fate of the world.

Stalingrad snipers were a legend in their time. Their patience, keen eyes and ruthlessness helped win the Battle of Stalingrad and turn the tide of the Second World War. This is the true story of a teenage sniper recruited in 1942 by Vasily Zaitsev to seek out and shoot German officers. To begin with, the youngster finds it almost impossible to kill, but after a shocking discovery, goes on to 'snap as many as 84 German sticks', and following capture and a daredevil escape, leads a handpicked unit on a hazardous mission to seize Field Marshall Paulus, the Commander-in-Chief of the invading army. But this sniper is no ordinary marksman. The author first visited Stalingrad in 1959, and made subsequent visits in 1963 and, most recently, in 2006, when he met Tania Chernova, the heroine of this novel. Having studied Russian in Birmingham and Moscow, James Riordan lived, worked and travelled extensively in Russia for five years, and has presented several BBC radio programmes on Russia. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Russian at the University of Surrey.